Jan. 2014 courtesy photo of Melvin Nathaniel Stewart. The Ramsey County attorney's office charged Melvin Nathaniel Stewart, DOB 2/14/86, of Minneapolis, on Jan. 31, 2014, with second-degree engaging in sex trafficking. He is accused of holding two women, ages 18 and 19, against their will for prostitution. St. Paul police investigated the case involving Stewart during a recent national effort to crackdown on â€œjohnsâ€ and pimps that was scheduled to coincide with the Super Bowl. Photo courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff's office.

Jan. 2014 courtesy photo of Melvin Nathaniel Stewart. The Ramsey County attorney's office charged Melvin Nathaniel Stewart, DOB 2/14/86, of Minneapolis, on Jan. 31, 2014, with second-degree engaging in sex trafficking. He is accused of holding two women, ages 18 and 19, against their will for prostitution. St. Paul police investigated the case involving Stewart during a recent national effort to crackdown on â€œjohnsâ€ and pimps that was scheduled to coincide with the Super Bowl. Photo courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff's office.

A man has been charged in a sex-trafficking case, accused of holding two young women against their will in a hotel and forcing them to engage in prostitution, after an undercover sting in St. Paul.

A 19-year-old woman told police that Melvin Nathaniel Stewart, 27, “would not let her out of his sight,” the criminal complaint said. “She stated that she never wanted to do prostitution and was being held against her will and was happy she was in a safe place. She asked if officers could also help her friend who was being held at the Super 8 Hotel in Brooklyn Center against her will.”

St. Paul police investigated the case during a recent national effort to crack down on “johns” and pimps scheduled to coincide with the Super Bowl. Local law enforcement conducted the sting, which led to arrests of 359 would-be sex buyers and 14 pimps or traffickers, Cook County, Ill., Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said Thursday.

The seventh “National Day of Johns Arrests” sting ran from Jan. 23 through Sunday, “culminating with the Super Bowl — an event long considered a haven for sex trafficking,” according to a news release from Dart’s office.

In the Twin Cities case, the Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Stewart, of Minneapolis, on Jan. 31 with second-degree engaging in sex trafficking.

According to the complaint:

On Jan. 29, the St. Paul police Human Trafficking Unit conducted a detail in St. Paul.

“Officers had located ads on Backpage.com advertising escort services by a female who looked extremely young,” the complaint said. “An undercover officer contacted the number associated with the ad and spoke to a young sounding female who identified herself as ‘Honey.’ ” She agreed to meet the undercover officer.

A woman, identified in the complaint as 19-year-old M.W., arrived at an undisclosed location in St. Paul in a blue Cadillac. A man was driving the car and another man was in the front passenger seat.

M.W. entered the location and agreed to have sex with the undercover officer for $100. Officers arrested the woman.

Police identified the car’s passenger as Stewart. The 26-year-old driver told police they’d dropped off a woman who’d offered them money for a ride.

An officer talked to M.W. and she said Stewart was her pimp. She was originally from Eau Claire, had been kicked out of her parents’ house and was living from “house to house,” the complaint said.

M.W. and her friend were at the Crown Plaza in Minneapolis when they met Stewart and a woman known as “Bird.” They offered to take M.W. and her friend to breakfast the next morning. Instead, they took them to the Super 8 in Brooklyn Center.

Stewart put an ad on Backpage.com and “Bird” took pictures of M.W. Her nickname on the Backpage ad was “Honey” and her friend was posted in an ad with the name, “Carmel.” M.W. prostituted for Stewart about five times.

M.W. told Stewart and “Bird” that she wanted to leave, and Stewart told her she needed to pay him $150 to $200 to do so.

Police went to the Super 8 and located M.W.’s friend, 18-year-old E.D. She verified M.W.’s account.

E.D. told police she and M.W. had been crying the prior evening. “E.D. stated that she was afraid to leave because she was afraid that something might happen to M.W.,” the complaint said. “They decided that they would try to leave together.”

M.W. couldn’t provide information about the driver of the Cadillac. She said Stewart used about five drivers.

Stewart and the car’s driver declined to speak with police. Stewart is being held in the Ramsey County jail on $90,000 bail. His attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Stewart’s criminal history includes convictions for felony controlled substance crimes in 2007 and 2008, and felony simple robbery in 2005.

This report includes information from the Associated Press. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

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